


Climb Higher and Higher

by MiMyMomo



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Acrophobia, And some other cute stuff, Bi Evan, Gay Jared, I don't know how tags works, Jansen - Freeform, M/M, Sucky Summary, small panic attack, they climb a tree
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 06:16:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10679412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiMyMomo/pseuds/MiMyMomo
Summary: Jared is terrified of heights. His boyfriend loves climbing trees. What could possibly go wrong?





	Climb Higher and Higher

**Author's Note:**

> Here's my contribution to the DEH fandom and the whole JaredxEvan ship (this ship needs more love!) I'm a terrible writer but this idea has been in my head for a while so I just had to write it out.

Jared had very few fears. Water? Perfectly fine. Lots of people in a small space? Whatever. Snakes, Shots and vomit? Cool, stupid and gross but not scary. Germs and diseases? Despite being Jewish and all those stereotypes, he was no hypochondriac. Spiders...okay but who isn't afraid of those? But at the top of his short list was heights. 

Jared despised the feeling of being high up above the ground. Looking down and seeing all the people that usually were his height of of a sudden being the size of ants freaked him out. He would get paranoid about falling to his death which would lead to sickness in his stomach and the inability to see straight. Just thinking about it for too long made him dizzy. 

When did this fear develop? Maybe it was during a hike with his family when he was eight. The mountain they decided to climb was huge mountain and when they made it to the top Jared and his older sister decided to get a quick look at the view over the edge. At the same time they were looking three preteen boys horse playing around ended up bumping into Jared causing him to lose his footing and start his long descent down the mountain. He of course didn't actually fall down the mountain as his dad quickly caught Jared but the damage had been done. Just the feeling of nearly falling caused the young boy to start crying. 

Ever since that incident Jared has actively high heights above the ground. And this had been going well for a good ten years until he started dating his boyfriend Evan Hansen. 

Look despite what he said and how he acted, Jared truly cared about Evan (maybe even loved him but let's not get into that). Evan made him feel a way that he never felt before and that initially scared the shit out of him. This caused the teen to act like a total douche to the poor anxious boy. Then there was the whole Connor Project fiasco and their huge fight, which resulted in silence on both ends for nearly two months until one day Evan came and apologized causing Jared to apologize as well. Their relationship from there turned into a true friendship and then developed into a romantic one. 

But here's the thing; while Jared adored most of Evan's quirks, the fascination with trees has proven to be a little bit problematic. 

Now don't get him wrong- Jared has no problem with Evan spewing out random tree facts. Even if he does look and act like he hates it. I mean how else would Jared know that a single 98-foot-tall mature tree can absorb as much as 50 pounds of carbon dioxide in a year, which over it’s lifetime is approximately the same amount as would be produced by an average car being driven 25,787 miles? Or that the Manchineel tree, native to Florida is considered the most poisonous tree in the world, as it causes painful blisters if you stand under it during rain, blinds you if the smoke from its burned wood touches your eyes, poisons water with its leaves and will cause death if you eat its fruits (see he does pay attention)? 

And Jared loves seeing Evan's face and eyes brighten when they pass by areas filled with trees of different types and heights. He's at peace and his anxiety is usually more relaxed, and when Evan's happy Jared is too for the most part. 

No, the part of the whole tree thing that Jared hates is the climbing them part. And you see Evan has this thing where anytime the two boys would go out, he would find a way to be high up in a tree by the end of it. And then he tries to convince Jared to join him which leads to Jared shutting the idea down instantly. Evan gets upset, Jared apologizes and the cycle continues every time. 

Why doesn't Jared just tell his sweet boyfriend the truth? Well you see in Jared's twisted mind he believes that he can't. He has an image to uphold, he had to be strong for Evan's sake. He was already stressed out about everything under the sun, adding Jared's irrational fear of heights wouldn't be good. So refusing Evan's offers would have to do. 

So when the two go out on Sunday for a date in the park Jared's not sure how he does it (but at the same time not completely surprised) but Evan finds a tree that's 'perfect' to view the sunset in and now is trying to convince his boyfriend to join him. 

"Come on Jared please?" 

"No not happening."

"Just this once? You've rejected every other time if asked. "The slightly taller boy pleads desperation flooding his eyes. "And this ones not even that big so it's shouldn't be too hard to climb up."

'Any tree is too big...' Jared thought to himself. "Look Ev I'm perfect fine keeping my two feet on the ground. You go ahead climb, I'll just watch" Jared replied with his arms crossed and eyes closed. 

Evan's face fell into a slight pout. "O-okay I was just hoping that maybe this time you-you would do it with me" his voice dying out in the end. "N-not saying you HAVE to oranythingbecausethatwouldberudeofmetoforceyou" the boy quickly spewed out and not looking at Jared in the eyes anymore. 

Jared sighed "Alright, alright calm down I'll climb the stupid tree with you..." 

"Really?" Evan asked shocked. "Yeah I-I guess. I mean it's just a tiny tree, what could possibly go wrong?" 'Well for starters you could start climbing and have a panic attack which will then cause you to slip and fall out the tree and break some part of your body or even worse you could die. Maybe Evan will be so embarrassed by you that he will break up with you for not telling him the truth about your stupid heights fear? Then you'll be friendless, loveless and-'

"Jared? Are you okay?" Jared shook his head, he was so enveloped in his thoughts he didn't notice his boyfriend trying to get his attention. He looks up at the concerned boy, "Sorry I kinda blanked for a second, I'm all good" his voice wavering. "Now let's get to climbing this damn tree before the sun sets". 

Evan gave Jared a small smile and the boys walk over to the base of the tree. It was about 20 feet with long wide branches, not too big but that didn't bring too much comfort to Jared. While Evan immediately begins to climb Jared holds back and tries to give himself a pep talk. 'Come on Kleinman you can do this. Don't be a little bitch. I mean six year olds climb this stupid thing. And if anything do it for Evan'. 

By the time Jared willed himself to touch the tree Evan had already climbed a few branches up and was looking back at Jared to see if he had followed. 'You coming?' He asked head tilted slightly. 

"Do it for Evan" Jared mumbles under his breath, looking down at the ground for what could be the last time under his impending death. Sighing he begins his climb up. 

Now for a normal teenager climbing up a relatively small tree shouldn't be too difficult. However, for Jared- a man who is vertically challenged, scared of heights and hasn't climbed a tree in over ten years-you see the problem?

He's breathing hard and shaking making each move up that much harder. By the time he makes it to the first branch his head is dizzy, but he doesn't stop. 

He slowly makes it up two more branches to where Evan is sitting and waiting for him. At this point Jared's hands are red from gripping the rough tree bark so hard and he's beginning to hyperventilate. 

"J-Jared! Are you okay?!" Evan asked after finally getting a good look at his boyfriend who was nearly crying. Jared latches on to Evan, head buried in his chest, shaking even harder than before. 

"Too...high..." Jared stutters out. At this point Evan's chest was starting to get from the tears that were streaming down Jared's face. 

"Jared, are you..."Evan clears his throat. "Are you scared of heights?" Jared doesn't answer but instead clutches on even tighter to Evan's shirt. That's all Evan needed. 

"Jared I'm so sorry!"Evan rubs circles on Jared's back trying to calm him down. "Why-why didn't you say anything? Oh god I'm so so sorry!"

It takes a few minutes of back rubbing and soft whispering but Jared manages to calm down a bit. Tears dry and shaking is near non-existent. Finally once his breathing has normalized he responds. 

"You looked so sad when I kept telling you no so I thought I could try. I didn't think I would end up crying like a little kid though' Jared laughs weakly at himself. 'I didn't want you to think I was weak. I'm sorry."

"Jared I don't think you're weak just because you are scared of heights. You're one of the strongest people I know. Nothing's gonna change that."

"Not even after I ended up crying like a little bitch cause I scared to climb up a freaking tree?" Jared asked slowly lifting his head to look up at Evan. 

Evan gives Jared a small smile. "No" he chuckles "not even that" then places a sweet lingering kiss on his forehead. Jared snuggles into Evan and places his head in crook of Evan's neck. His eyes close and he let's out deep breath. His grip on Evan shirt also loosens quite a bit. The wind softly blows rustling the leaves in the trees. He almost feels-relaxed. 

The two boys lose track of time wrapped up in each other's arms until Evan tells Jared to look up. 

After some convincing Jared finally looks up, untangling himself a bit from Evan. 

The view is beautiful. The sun is fading into the distant horizon covered by darkening clouds. The sky is filled with pale yellows, oranges, pinks and purples swirling together with the darkening blue. 'So this is the perfect sunset Evan was raving about?' Jared wonders in amazement. 'I can see where all the praise comes from now.'

Jared glances over to look at his boyfriend and he gasped. Evan's stunning. Greenish blue eyes shimmering and a small open smile is on his lips. Shoulders at ease and hair slightly messy, the look of pure joy plastered on his face. The sun shines all over his body giving him a soft angelic glow. This is what Jared strived to see, his boyfriend at complete peace with himself and the world. He would trees ten times the height of the current one he was sitting in just to get another glance of the way Evan was looking now. 'Screw the sun, this is what true beauty is.'

He continues to stare until Evan eventually turns a looks over at him. 

"What?"

"Oh nothing. I'm just sitting here and admiring the view."

"Oh." Evan replies turning to look back and the setting sun. "Yeh the sun is really pretty isn't it?"

"I wasn't talking about the sun."

Evan quickly turns red and flustered but Jared just smirks and begins to laugh. Evan rolls his eyes but smiles as well. 

Jared leans over and plants a warm kiss to Evan's lips. Evan responds eagerly lifting his hands to the side of Jared's face. The kiss quickly deepens, one becomes multiple. Mouths open and tongues battle for dominance. 

Before things could get too intense for public decency, Jared breaks the kiss, both boys panting lightly. 

"As much as I would love to continue this do you think we could do so on the ground?"

"Oh-oh yeah of course. Yeah, yeah okay hold on" Evan shakes his head trying shed his slight daze. 

It takes a few minutes but they find they're way to the ground. While walking back to Jared's car Evan tries to apologize again but Jared quickly shuts him down. 

"Don't be sorry. I actually kinda liked it. Well after I got over my little freak out that is." Jared gives Evan's hand a strong squeeze. While he maybe not ready to go and climb up a mountain yet, Jared thinks one day he maybe will, especially if he has his boyfriend by his side. He just might need to stick to trees for a little bit longer.

**Author's Note:**

> There we go! This was my first fanfic ever so some conservative criticism would be great! (Key word is constructive!) I hope you guys enjoyed because it was a pain to write. Please comment and kudos if you want. Thanks for reading!


End file.
